My 92 SE has the late shift and occasional stalling problem. Lately it's been running worse. When I first turn the car on in the morning, I can smell gas. When I start it up later I don't smell the gas, only the first time of the day when I start it up.

Today the car stalled as I turned it on. When I got it going I looked in the rearview mirror and saw some smoke puffs coming out of the back occasionally. When I was driving back I only saw a few puffs and the car ran alright. Any ideas?

I'm taking it to the stealership this week, but would like to pretend I know more than I do, so they don't try to rip me off.

 

The diagnostics that the dealer can do will tell you the problem. But most likely its a bad o-ring on a fuel injector. Other possible causes is one or more ignition coil is bad. All of them should really be replaced, ~$350 from courtesyparts.com

 

That's cool. Only in the past week has it run really bad. I'm hoping it's the coils so I can do that myself. Any idea how much it would cost to replace the O-ring + labor?\

I'm going in with the mindset that it's the transmission, so anything under $1,500 will a relief.

 

Bad Ignition Coils won't make the exhaust smoke (Black smoke assumed?)
Sounds like the O2 Sensor may be malfunctioning.

 

Yeah I know the coils won't cause the smoke. The stalling and hesitation has been going on a while. The smoke is something new.

Man today the smoke was really bad!!! The people behind me probably couldn't see anything. Luckily it was a quick drive.

Would a bad O2 sensor also cause the stalling hesitation?

 

The smoke is white? Try smelling it, see if its a little sweet. If so, then it may be a head gasket leak, its unlikely though.

Also, a totally bad coil will act similar to a leaking injector o-ring. You should replace all coils as apart of a regular ignition system tune up (every 70k miles or so).

 

What color is the smoke? If its black, its from the fuel. If its blue, its oil. If its pure white, its transmissions fluid or antifreeze.
Yeah, the 02 can make the car stall.
My SE went 110K miles before the Coils started to go. I never heard of replacing them a standard maintenance. If you do replace them, don't let the dealer do it...they charge way too much. Do it yourself. It only takes a half hour.

 

hehehehee... looks like I overfilled the oil... The damn people at Jiffy Lube always say my oil is really low when I bring it in and the dipstick looks the same all the time.

I guess they will do the diagnostics tomorrow.